World Wide Wave

11 Mar 2013

France: Maybe the gay story was less dramatic than we thought

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During his campaign for the 2012 presidential election, Socialist Party candidate François Hollande declared his
support for same-sex marriage, with a promise that it would be law in France during the spring of 2013.

Progress is underway. On February 2, 2013, the National Assembly approved the article 1 of the bill, by 249 votes against 97. On February 12, 2013, the National Assembly approved the bill in a 329-229 vote. A final vote is set for April 2, 2013.

But what does the older generation think? Sebastien Lifshitz, director of French documentary “Les Invisibles” joins us to discuss his documentary (playing at 2pm on Saturday in the Melbourne Queer Film Festival) and the recent same-sex marriage debate in France. Lifshitz believes the older LGBT generation was less enamored with the concept:

“During the 50′s and the 60′s, older people were against the institution of marriage because for them it was a symbol of tradition and what they were fighting against. They wanted to be different…Gays of today, they want to be like everyone else….but back then it was completely a different story.”

Lifshitz explains the sentiment of opposition: “Even if France is an open-minded country, there are a lot of people who are traditional and conservative.”

W3JOY also asked Lifshitz to discuss the inspiration for his documentary, and he replied with a story of finding photographs in a flea market:

“I found other gay snapshots, and every time it was the same mixture of happiness and freedom in the pictures. I was really amazed by that because the official gay story that we know is always so dramatic and difficult…but the pictures I had in front of me were telling something different. Maybe the gay story was less dramatic than we thought.”

His film follows 11 gays and lesbians over the age of 70. “I wanted to focus on the anonymous people who had normal, daily lives.” Lifshitz believes it is important for everybody–gay or straight people–to know what older homosexuals have been through, because they carry a social and an “intimate” history.

W3JOY will continue to post updates about the French gay marriage debate on its Facebook page. Read more and listen to the podcast on W3JOY’s France webpage.